I was first introduced to Spear probably a decade ago when I was an associate dentist. I was so impressed by Frank Spear at the first seminar I attended. Shortly after that first visit, I purchased my own practice and wanted to learn everything I could at spear. I took seminars, workshops, several a year and joined a Spear study club. The large investment felt worth it because I was getting a great education and taking things back to implement in practice making me a better dentist and leader. Fast forward to 2021, I sold my first practice and moved to a new state. Not the best time to be taking a workshop, I reached out to Spear to let them know I needed to postpone a workshop I had scheduled and they responded it would be no problem, I could reschedule for no penalty. I then purchased a new practice and joined spear practice solutions in addition to maintaining my study club status. I upgraded to a mentor plus program and spent the most I think you can spend per month on their memberships for a year. At the end of the year my practice transitioned to a patient management software not supported by Spear practice solutions. So i cancelled that membership, but kept everything else.
This was in the beginning of April 2023. I had asked if there was any concern about me attending their summit presentation in April, i got told no, no issues. Then about a week before the Summit, I receive an email that I cannot attend the Summit since I'm no longer a SPS member. I was angry b/c I'd already changed my work hours for that week and had a flight and hotel arranged. After several emails and being told I was going to receive a huge favor, they "allowed" me to attend. This really rubbed me the wrong way, but I stayed with them.
Then a few months later in booking a workshop, I was told my time to rebook had expired. I had no clue this even could happen. A course I'd paid for in the past ($5500) I could no longer take, I was told because over a year had gone by since I paid for said course. Totally fair policy, except I was never made aware of it. Eventually, after several phone calls and a google review, I was told I could use the voucher for another course. I scheduled for Feb 2024.
Less than two weeks prior to the course, I receive an email that the course is cancelled. Frustrated, I call and ask what is going on and am told I have no other options really, except reschedule for May 2024. So i did. This is 3 days of work missed b/c I was intending to be in Scottsddale.
May rolls around, I send an email to Braxten (my advisor) a couple weeks before my course to check in. He doesn't respond. Another email. No response. So I call Spear and get told the course has been cancelled. Why wasn't I informed before this? They don't know but they think my name got left off the list, just a mistake. Ok, but I'm furious because this is the second time for this course and now it's less than 2 weeks away and I'm here with 3 open days in my schedule and another flight and hotel I need to change.
I let them know I had no desire to book again and just want a refund. Now I'm being given the run around, emails ignored, etc. I was told I'd receive a refund, but it didn't show up by the time I was told it would. The amount offered in the refund is about half of what I paid. At this point, no amount of money refunded is enough, and I'm sure Spear knows that. But they continue to layer insults on top of the already frustrating things they've done by offering a partial refund. I hope by sharing this, other dentists really look into options other than spear for their education. The company has plummeted in customer service and prices obviously have continued to be extremely high. They merged with CDOCs a year or two ago. Both companies were pretty good until they merged, now both treat their clients horribly. At least in my experience. read more